History

Early years

The club was founded in 1902 as Meidericher Spielverein representing the city of Meiderich, which became a district of Duisburg in 1905. In 1905 they absorbed the club Sport Club Viktoria Meiderich. In 1967, they took on their current name, acknowledging their role as the city's most popular and successful side.

While Duisburg has always been a competitive side, real success has so far eluded them. Early in their history they captured a number of local championships, and even enjoyed a pair of undefeated seasons (1913–14) when they scored 113 goals while only giving up 12. In 1929 they won the first Niederrhein championship and qualified for the first time for the national championship rounds, repeating the feat in 1931.

However, the club then went into a tailspin from which they didn't really recover until the 1950s when they began once again to field decent sides. During World War II the club came close to folding, but returned to play after the war emerging as city champions in 1946. In 1951, Duisburg earned promotion to the top-flight Oberliga West with their first place finish in the 2. Oberliga West. The Oberliga West was the most competitive division of German football at the time, and except...Read More